Thanksgiving in Chicago

We had Thanksgiving at my parent's house in Chicago, and were there about 8 days. We landed at O'Hare airport, my parent's met us at baggage claim and mom handed me a stick of Juicy Fruit gum. MY FAVORITE ... Valentine came with us in her new travel bag which added nicely to my wardrobe.

She behaved really well on the plane and was only stressed on the take off and landing parts of the flight. I would unzip the top of the travel bag and pet her head to calm her. True to her personality she did not bark or make noise. People around us didn't know we had a dog with us. Praise the Lord.

The day we flew in was the day we headed 20 minutes outside of Chicago and toured Northwestern University. My cousin's finance (now) is in the graduate program there for Opera singing. Trevor would like to get his MBA from there, if we can swing it some day. No plans in that direction so far. The university was beautiful, right on Lake Michigan, and situated in a quaint town.

We tried many Chicagoland treats while there, the pizza, for one is pretty great. One night Trevor, mom, dad, Nicky and I went to Hancock tower to really see the city from 97 floors up. it was gorgeous. We had a drink at the lounge and enjoyed the sites. You could see all the way around Lake Michigan into Indiana. Amazing. We walked around the city a bit, right by the old water tower and hunted for a popcorn place called Garret's which has the best gourmet, Chicago style popcorn ever. Chicago style = chedder cheese popcorn mixed with carmel popcorn.

Thanksgiving day my parent's friends Gary and Anita Thomas came over to share dinner with us. They've known our family since I was six. Gary and my dad were in Marketing togehter at Beckman when we were in the Bay area, 1985 through 1992. They played on the Beckman softball team and I remember playing with their baby daughter Jessica, who is now in college. Wow did I feel old. They are great people and added much joy to our celebration. My mom was a wonderful host and the night ended with many rounds of Wii bowling. I won. :-)

We are blessed by the people, family and time together in this year of changes. What a wonderful Thanksgiving in 2008.